{"id":3687907,"url":"https://alion.io/job/elsevier-principal-software-engineer","title":"Principal Software Engineer","company":{"id":3090,"name":"Elsevier","domain":"elsevier.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/elsevier","size_band":"5000+","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Workday","truth_index":{"grade":"B","score":80,"open_postings":25,"ghost_share":0,"stale_share":0.8,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":26,"computed_at":"2026-11-04T06:34:25Z"}},"role":"Backend","role_family":"Backend","seniority":"lead","employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Amsterdam, Netherlands"],"countries":["NL"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":{"min":79000,"max":131500,"currency":"EUR","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":147298},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":10,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"Agile","optional":false},{"name":"AWS","optional":false},{"name":"CI/CD","optional":false},{"name":"Claude","optional":false},{"name":"Docker","optional":false},{"name":"GitHub Actions","optional":false},{"name":"JavaScript","optional":false},{"name":"Jest","optional":false},{"name":"Kanban","optional":false},{"name":"Nest.JS","optional":false},{"name":"Nginx","optional":false},{"name":"Node JS","optional":false},{"name":"Playwright","optional":false},{"name":"PostgreSQL","optional":false},{"name":"React.js","optional":false},{"name":"Rest API","optional":false},{"name":"TypeScript","optional":false},{"name":"Vite","optional":false},{"name":"Vitest","optional":false},{"name":"Yarn","optional":false},{"name":"LLM","optional":true}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-11-03T15:34:48Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-11-03","last_verified_at":"2026-11-04T08:24:51Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":1,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":1},"description":"Principal Software Engineer\nAre you passionate about shaping the technical direction of a modern, AI-enabled platform and leading architectural decisions that drive long-term impact?\nDo you enjoy working across frontend, backend, and infrastructure to deliver scalable, reliable software that solves complex business challenges for engineering teams and end users?\nAbout Team:\nLibra is an internal evaluation platform within Elsevier’s Search & AI Platform. The Evaluation Team builds platform capabilities that can support multiple Elsevier products, particularly around evaluating and enabling AI-driven use cases.\nAbout Role:\nAs Principal Software Engineer you will be the platform’s lead technical voice. You will own the frontend architecture and delivery, help shape the backend and integrations across the product, and set the technical bar for a distributed team. You will lead large multifunctional development work, solve the hardest technical problems, write complex production code and act as the senior source of expertise for the product. You will also give management sizing, roadmap and budget recommendations.\nResponsibilities:\nOwn the platform’s technical direction, frontend architecture and delivery, and take part in the key design decisions across the whole product, including the backend and integrations\nLead architectural design and keep technical consistency across the frontend, backend and integrations\nSet the technical bar: define what good code, design and reviews look like, lead design discussions, code reviews and architecture sessions, and record decisions\nShape and design the backend-for-frontend service with backend engineers, covering API contracts, authentication, role-based access and background processing\nDesign extensible patterns so new evaluation types, workflows and partner integrations fit cleanly as the platform grows into a shared service\nLead the implementation of components that span multiple services and modules, working across the stack from development to infrastructure\nMake the platform reliable at scale, with no lost expert work and fast, stable performance for hundreds of concurrent users\nDiagnose and resolve complex technical issues across distributed systems, and complete the most complex bug fixes\nDesign and maintain data models that support both operational and analytical use cases\nBuild relationships with other engineering teams to understand their needs and solve their pain points, and automate processes that help them\nWork directly with evaluation teams, data scientists and end users to turn requirements into clear, reliable technical plans\nServe as the primary technical point of contact for partner teams and external technology resources\nDrive an AI-first engineering practice, continuously improve development processes and lead knowledge sharing across the team\nAll other duties as assigned\nQUALIFICATIONS:\n10+ years of software engineering experience, with at least 7 years building large web applications on the frontend\nBS in Engineering or Computer Science, or equivalent experience required; advanced degree preferred\nTECHNICAL SKILLS:\nExpert in React (18+), TypeScript and modern JavaScript, with a track record of leading frontend architecture for production applications\nDeep understanding of scalable frontend architecture, including routing and data loading, server-state management, performance at scale, component libraries and design systems\nWorking knowledge of Node.js backends, ideally NestJS, including REST API design, backend-for-frontend patterns, OIDC and session-based authentication, and role-based access\nDeep understanding of distributed system design, data modelling and performance tuning, including relational databases such as PostgreSQL\nExpert in test-driven development and CI/CD, with hands-on use of Vitest or Jest, Testing Library, Playwright and quality gates in CI\nPractical knowledge of Vite, Yarn, Docker, nginx, AWS infrastructure as code and CI/CD with GitHub Actions\nHands-on experience with modern AI tools such as Claude or Codex, and an AI-first approach to delivering high-quality software\nSolid knowledge of architectural principles, with the ability to explain trade-offs clearly and make decisions that hold up over time\nAbility to drive technical outcomes independently, from problem definition to deployment\nExpert in Agile or Kanban delivery, with strong planning, prioritisation and change management across multiple teams\nProven ability to partner with and lead internal and external technology resources to solve complex business needs\nStrong communication and presentation skills for a wide audience, from engineers to senior leadership and non-technical users\nNice to have:\nFamiliarity with LLM evaluation concepts such as rubric-based metrics, LLM-as-a-judge, inter-rater agreement and adjudication\nExperience building internal platforms or developer-facing tooling used by other teams\nKnowledge of observability best practices, including metrics, logs, alerts and real-user monitoring\nExperience with streaming UIs (server-sent events) and data-heavy dashboards\nWorking knowledge of specification-driven development (SDD) and agentic, AI-driven development workflows\nWork in a Way That Works for You\nWe promote a healthy work/life balance across the organisation. We offer an appealing working prospect for our people. With numerous wellbeing initiatives, shared parental leave, study assistance, and sabbaticals, we will help you meet your immediate responsibilities and your long-term goals. 1\nWorking Pattern\nWorking flexible hours - flexing the times when you work in the day to help you fit everything in and work when you are the most productive. 1\nAbout Business\nA global leader in information and analytics, we help researchers and healthcare professionals advance science and improve health outcomes for the benefit of society. Building on our publishing heritage, we combine quality information and vast data sets with analytics to support visionary science and research, health education and interactive learning, as well as exceptional healthcare and clinical practice. At Elsevier, your work contributes to the world's grand challenges and a more sustainable future. We harness innovative technologies to support science and healthcare to partner for a better world.\n\nPrimary Location Base Pay Range: NLD Amsterdam (Radarweg) €79,000 - €131,500. \n\nThis role is covered by the Collective Labor Agreement Publishing Industry.\n\nWe know your well-being and happiness are key to a long and successful career. We are delighted to offer country specific benefits. Clickhereto access benefits specific to your location.\nWe are committed to providing a fair and accessible hiring process. If you have a disability or other need that requires accommodation or adjustment, please let us know by completing our Applicant Request Support Form or please contact 1-855-833-5120.\nCriminals may pose as recruiters asking for money or personal information. We never request money or banking details from job applicants. Learn more about spotting and avoiding scamshere.\nPlease read our Candidate Privacy Policy.\nWe are an equal opportunity employer: qualified applicants are considered for and treated during employment without regard to race, color, creed, religion, sex, national origin, citizenship status, disability status, protected veteran status, age, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by law.\nUSA Job Seekers:\nEEO Know Your Rights.","description_format":"text","description_chars":7560,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":10,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":{"level":"bachelor","optional":false},"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":["Parental leave"],"hiring_locations":[],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Publishing","Clinical Decision Support","Scientific & Lab Software"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-11-03T15:34:48Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":63,"band":"ok","label":"Likely open","p_open":1,"p_active":0.632,"p_room":1,"age_days":0,"expected_fill_days":26,"reasons":["conf:3","stale_co","velocity","win:early","comp:brand"],"computed_at":"2026-11-04T06:34:25Z"},"pay":{"stated_usd_annual":147298,"is_top_pay":false},"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/elsevier-principal-software-engineer","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/elsevier-principal-software-engineer.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-11-04T21:24:57Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":33184,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-11-05T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":3090},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=3090"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Felsevier-principal-software-engineer"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":1,"usd":0.1},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Felsevier-principal-software-engineer"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Felsevier-principal-software-engineer"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/elsevier-principal-software-engineer\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Felsevier-principal-software-engineer"}],"agent":{"mcp":"https://alion.io/mcp/jobs","mcp_open":"https://alion.io/mcp/open","next":[{"tool":"get_job","arguments":{"id":3687907}},{"tool":"search_jobs","arguments":{"company":"elsevier.com","detail":"compact"}},{"tool":"match_people","arguments":{"job_id":3687907},"note":"people open to offers who fit this vacancy"}],"note":"The same data through MCP tools: https://alion.io/mcp/open needs no sign-in (compact searches, postings, people); https://alion.io/mcp with an Alion account has everything. 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